Where Badgers stand with 2 2025 recruits after visits (2024)

Jace Clarizio was set to visit the University of Wisconsin football program earlier this year, but an illness prevented him from making the trek. He finally traveled to Madison last weekend, and now he’ll return once again in just over a month.

Clarizio, who plays for East Lansing High School in Michigan, arrived in town Friday evening then watched Wisconsin’s 10th spring practice Saturday.

“As soon as we got to Madison, just had a great time all around,” Clarizio said. “The coaches showed me a lot of love all around. Loved the practice, loved how they practiced, loved the energy, loved the physicality, loved their offensive scheme. I feel like it fits me as a player.”

Clarizio announced an offer from the Badgers in mid-January, and he’s also tweeted others from Boston College, Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Southern Cal. His recruiting journey has heated up in the past few months, as most of those have come since the beginning of the year.

Clarizio complimented the Wisconsin coaches for being genuine on his unofficial visit, which stood out to him. He said he’s been building a relationship with running backs coach Devon Spalding “for a while now” that’s grown stronger by the week.

“I talk to them probably about almost every day,” Clarizio said. “(Spalding) told me I'd be a great asset in their offense. Just like I said, their scheme, I feel like it fits me. Getting the running back the ball out of the backfield and running between tackles, I can do both, they tell me, very well. He said that I could take this place over and really be a valuable asset and help the team.”

Wisconsin’s among several schools Clarizio said are recruiting him the hardest, which also included Power Four programs Pittsburgh, Iowa State, Michigan State, Indiana and Boston College. He’s also taken spring visits to those half dozen schools as well.

“It’s pretty enticing, like you said, but I just want to do the best for me,” Clarizio said. “Go somewhere where I feel like I can be my best self.”

He’ll take an official visit to Michigan State the weekend of June 14, but he’ll start that busy month in Madison. He’ll take official visits to Wisconsin the weekend of May 31 that runs to June 2, Minnesota starting June 7 and Pitt beginning June 20.

There’s no timetable for a decision yet for Clarizio. The Badgers do not have a running back commit for its 2025 class heading into this time of the year where summer official visits are prominent in the college football world, but Wisconsin stands in a “super high” spot after the recent trip, according to the back.

“I loved it a lot,” Clarizio said. “… I loved everything about it, and it's RBU, so pretty high.”

Wisconsin still in contention for five-star in-state kicker

Erik Schmidt’s seen his number of preferred walk-on offers triple this spring. The Milwaukee Marquette specialist initially tweeted that offer from Wisconsin last year, but he also said Michigan and Notre Dame also have presented the same opportunities this spring. Those programs are unsurprisingly the schools he feels are currently recruiting him the hardest.

“So far, my top three are really Michigan, Wisconsin, Notre Dame,” Schmidt said. “They have everything I'm looking for. They're close to home, great academics, great culture. Really they all have everything I'm looking for, so that's why it's going to be so tough to decide.”

Schmidt’s no stranger to Madison, having participated in a specialist camp last summer and attended multiple home games last season. He returned to watch Wisconsin’s April 18 spring practice.

“It was great,” Schmidt said. “It’s always good coming back and I was able to meet the new special teams analyst (Eric Raisbeck) there. Nice guy, so it was a great meeting him, and I had a great time there.”

One aspect of Wisconsin’s special teams portion of practice stood out to Schmidt, who the Badgers envision as a kicker but is rated as both a five-star punter and kicker by Kohl’s Kicking.

“So when they kick field goals, they charted them by keeping track exactly where they went and writing everything down, and then analyzing the film and where everything went,” Schmidt said. “So I thought that was super impressive, just analyzing the charting that they did. So I like that a lot. That's a great way to keep track of your progress and continue to get better.”

Schmidt also was seen talking with first-team kicker Nathanial Vakos on the sideline during the practice.

“We work with the same kicking coach, so over the summer, we did a camp together and we're gonna do the same camp again this summer,” Schmidt said. “ I was able to work with him. He was able to coach me up, so that was great.

“And Vakos is a good guy. So I enjoyed talking to him and learning more about Wisconsin and how he feels about being a specialist there.”

Schmidt plans to participate in summer camps at Michigan (June 5), Alabama (June 8), Wisconsin (June 14), and Notre Dame (June 18). He’d prefer to make a decision before his senior season, though he’s willing to wait if the right opportunity presents itself. A couple of factors may play a role in which schools he commits to.

“Maybe if a scholarship opens up, and I'll be playing freshman or sophom*ore year for sure. I’d say that’s it,” Schmidt said. “That would probably make me commit.”

The specialist is “definitely still interested” in Wisconsin.

“I think coach Raisbeck’s doing a great job with the specialists, so that definitely sparked some interest there for me,” Schmidt said.

Wisconsin staying busy with new offers sent out this week

The recruiting staff has continued to solidify three weekends of official visits, the first of which starts May 31-June 2. They’ve also given out offers in that class as well this week.

Defensive lineman Drayden Pavey, who plays for Cincinnati Taft, visited Wisconsin last weekend and announced an offer from the program Sunday. The three-star recruit also secured an official visit back to Madison for the weekend of June 14-16.

Joining Pavey on an official visit is three-star running back Cale Breslin (Las Vegas Faith Lutheran), who took an unofficial visit to Wisconsin this week.

Three-star recruits Luke Emmerich (Monticello, Minnesota), who is designated as an athlete by the recruiting outlets, and defensive back JoJo Scott (Victory Christian Academy, Florida) also tweeted offers from Wisconsin since Sunday.